A Five Part Series to Reviewing & Updating your Will: Part 1 – Marriage.

If I were to ask you to write a list of things you need to organise as part of your preparations to getting Married or forming a Civil Partnership, I can almost guarantee that reviewing your existing Will or organising a new Will would either not come to mind, or come so far down the list it may as well not be there. I fully understand – the excitement takes over, and reviewing or making a Will seems so…morbid! Well, look at it like this; your special day is exactly that, a day. But, your Marriage or Civil Partnership is (hopefully) for the rest of your life! So, it might be useful to reframe your mind from Wedding to Life Planning!

What if I already have a Will?

When somebody already has a Will in place when they get Married or enter into a Civil Partnership, the effects of that Ceremony are that the Will becomes revoked, which essentially means to withdraw or take back the Will. So, you wake up on that special day and have things in place should anything unfortunate happen, but you go to bed without any provision for your loved ones – it’s as simple as that.

Can I stop my Will from being Revoked?

In short; yes. The Law does allow for an anticipated Marriage or Civil Partnership to be taken into consideration when making your Will. Specifically, where the Will makes clear that the testator anticipates the Marriage or Civil Partnership to a particular person and that the Marriage or Civil Partnership should not revoke the Will, a Will can be made before your big day and not need to be reviewed or updated after.

Does Divorce have the same Affect on my Will?

Divorce or Dissolution of a Civil Partnership has similar but not the same effect on your Will. If you have a Will at the time that you Divorce or Dissolve a Civil Partnership, then the Will is not revoked but, any reference to your former Spouse or Civil Partner is considered as though they had died on the date of the Marriage or Civil Partnership being dissolved. This relates to the former Spouse or Civil Partner being appointed as an Executor or being named as the beneficiary to any gifts. So, although the Will is not revoked, you may need to review your Will upon divorce due to having no remaining Executors or Beneficiaries named in your Will. However, it is worth noting that the right for a former Spouse or Civil Partner to make a claim in an Estate under the Inheritance (Provision for Family & Dependants) Act 1975 is not affected. To find out more about claims in an Estate, read my recent blog; What about me?

#TeamTassells has an abundance of specialist experience in Private Client matters. For more information about how we can assist you, contact a member of the team on 01795 533 337.

This blog was written by Jack Gould, Paralegal – jackgould@tassells.law